David Haines and Joyce HinterdingThe Outlands, 2011Courtesy of BREENSPACE, Sydney

Research at Sydney College of the Arts

Research is central to creative life at SCA. An integral part of one of Australia’s most established and research intensive universities, all our activities - learning, teaching, art-production, curating and theoretical writing – are based on the conviction that vital knowledge is generated when creative inquiry and experimentation are galvanised by analytical scholarship. Our research culture reflects and actively shapes the increasingly trans-disciplinary nature of contemporary art with its vital links to industry and policy. Our strategic approach to practice-led research means that the work of our academic staff and students engages with diverse fields of inquiry, including architecture, music, environmental humanities, politics, Indigenous studies, history, philosophy, design, science and technology.

The breadth, vitality and rigour of our research make us world leaders. The Australian Government's most recent assessment of research excellence awarded SCA the highest possible ranking as a global standard-setter in Creative Arts Research.

Staff and postgraduate students at SCA are renowned for practice-led research. Our creative and scholarly works are exhibited and published in esteemed venues, journals, monographs and media outlets around the world.

Within this dynamic culture, SCA Graduate School offers Research Degrees at Masters and Doctoral level. Research students are part of a stimulating culture of peers where their creative discoveries are shared with staff and external partners in forums, exhibitions, and symposia. Students regularly exhibit, publish, and participate in conferences nationally and abroad, widening their professional ambit to ensure that they emerge as contemporary artists and researchers on par with the world standard of SCA.

Within the wider SCA community, we also engage in specialised research clusters that lead to funded research projects. Our current research clusters investigate:

Contemporary Art & Feminism

Investigating the current state of feminist artistic practice and feminist art criticism globally.Contact: Jacqueline Miller(jacqueline.millner[at]sydney.edu.au)

Art and the Document

Investigating how attitudes and practices generally associated with archiving and with documentary filmmaking have begun to have a major impact in artist production worldwide.Contact: John Di Stefano(john.distefano[at]sydney.edu.au)

Space, Place & Country

Investigating the physical, social and political dimensions of space and place, including public private space, environment and colonisation, contemporary notions of 'country' (as it is understood in Australian culture) and the shared knowledges, material cultures and oral histories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.Contact: Assoc. Prof. Ann Elias(ann.elias[at]sydney.edu.au)

Self-taught and Outsider Art

Investigating the relationships between the practices of formally trained artists and the practices of artists who operate as untrained outsiders in traditions variously described as 'naive', 'folk', 'psychiatric' and auto-didact.Contact: Professor Colin Rhodes(sca.dean[at]sydney.edu.au)View the website here

New Materialisms

Investigating the current rapid amplification of craft-based, non-industrial-scale and hand-made processes in the production and marketing of contemporary art.Contact: Andrew Lavery(andrew.lavery[at]sydney.edu.au)

For enquiries relating to research partnerships, contact: SCA Research(sca.research[at]sydney.edu.au)

For general enquiries relating to postgraduate research degrees, contact: SCA Graduate School(sca.graduateschool[at]sydney.edu.au)